Local Volunteers Honored at Morris Museum

Tuesday, April 23 Homeless Solutions, Inc. of Morristown held a Volunteer Appreciation Night at the Morris Museum to celebrate its 550+ volunteers

Bickford Fundraiser Helps Celebrate Museum Centennial

The theatre is bringing a line up of stars from Broadway and regional theatre for its annual Bickford Theatre Guild Fundraiser

As the Morris Museum enters its 100th year, the Bickford Theatre is proud to celebrate this milestone with the private, nonprofit museum with the theatre’s annual fundraiser. “This is the fifth consecutive year that I've written, produced and directed the Bickford Theatre Guild fundraiser,” said Stephen Kantrowitz, Gala Producer/Director. “This year we're featuring stars from Broadway's "Porgy and Bess," "Phantom of the Opera," "Les Miserables" and many more. The cast is all set and have chosen their songs. Over fifteen established performers from Broadway and Regional theatre will perform that night. All singing their favorite Broadway showstoppers from the last 100 years.” The fundraiser is Saturday May 11 at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are on…

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Chocolate Festival, Murder Mystery in Morris This Weekend

Winter weekend photo scavenger hunt also ahead.

There’s a lot to do in and around Morris County this weekend.

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Bickford, Midiri Brothers to Celebrate Historic Jazz Concert

Jan. 15 event to celebrate 75th anniversary of Benny Goodman's 1938 Carnegie Hall performance.

The Community Theatre is not the only one to be celebrating its diamond anniversary. Across town, at Morris Museum's Bickford Theatre in Morris Township, another celebration of 75 years is set for January. On Tuesday, Jan. 15, the theater will celebrate the 75th anniversary of "King of Swing" Benny Goodman's legendary Carnegie Hall concert—which some have said helped legitmize Jazz music—with a showcase of both his work and the work of other legends by the Midiri Brothers Band, at 8 p.m. "lt was a snowy Sunday evening in January 1938 when Benny Goodman had the audacity to present a concert of Jazz and Swing music at Carnegie Hall," according to a Bickford Theatre press release. "This was youthful dance music, after all, not usually …

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Nothing Fishy About Bickford's 'Tuna' Treat

'A Tuna Christmas,' runs through Dec. 30.

There's nothing fishy about this tuna. For more than 30 years, writers Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard have curated a series of plays about small-town life in Texas, beginning with “Greater Tuna.” With Williams and Sears portraying nearly two dozen characters who comprise the eccentric population of tiny Tuna, Texas, they put the “fun” in fundamentalist Bible Belt dogma and celebrate how even the most deranged families have a heart. And, you can share some of their holiday spirit—spiced with affectionate and sometimes outrageous satirical humor—at Morris Museum, where “A Tuna Christmas” is being served at the Bickford Theatre through Dec. 30. Here in New Jersey, veteran regional comic actors Jim Ligon and Michael Irvin Pollard are…

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Bickford Opens Fall Season With Music, Style, Flair

'You're Gonna Love Tomorrow' on stage through Oct. 15.

The fall theater season got off to an elegant start Friday at the Bickford Theatre with a welcome revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical revue “You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow.” By its own admission in the first song, “there’s not much of a plot,” but who needs plot when you have the lush, elegant melodies and language of the great American master composer, delivered by six strong voices and a talented trio of musicians who receive some delightfully unexpected assistance? First presented as a concert in 1983, the chosen songs—mostly lesser-knowns from the vast Sondheim songbook—cover his usual gamut of romantic reflections, from the dramatic (“Being Alive,” from “Company”) to the sweet (“This Is Nice, Isn’t It?” from “Saturday Night”) to the …

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Musical Comedy 'Nunsense' Hits Morris Stage

Bickford Theatre livens up the summer with first-rate cast in musical.

What’s all this nonsense about the Bickford Theatre staging an unprecedented summer musical? The professional resident theater company at the Morris Museum in Morris Township is normally dark in the summer aside from children’s activities and the occasional one-nighter. Divine providence, though, intercedes this year as Artistic Director Eric Hafen has whipped up a production of the reliably entertaining musical comedy “Nunsense.” Sure, this off-Broadway phenomenon has been done—done to death some would say. The program claims 5,000 productions worldwide in 21 languages since 1985. Then there are the six sequels and three spinoffs in what has become a lucrative show-business brand for playwright Dan Goggin (who launched the funny nuns …

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Bickford Hits Right Beat for Renowned Drummer

Bernard Purdie impressed with theater, plans to celebrate 70th birthday on stage for benefit concert.

The Morris Museum is seeing a lot of excitement recently—from "American Idols," to Broadway stars—and now the world's most recorded drummer will grace the stage Monday at the museum's Bickford Theatre. Bernard Purdie, a renowned drummer for being a part of more than 4,000 albums and working with top musicians such as Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis and Steely Dan, among many others, has decided to celebrate his 70th birthday at the Bickford for a benefit show. His birthday bash concert will include four bands he's worked with that will perform a variety of genres. "The concert is going to cover R&B, pop, jazz, folk, soul," Purdie told Patch on Friday. "It's kind of like my life story, the music is all of those genres that I have been playing …

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Former 'American Idol' Finalist to Perform at Bickford

Theater's sixth annual fundraiser will feature Tony Award-nominee Constantine Maroulis.

A former "American Idol" finalist will headline the sixth annual Bickford Theatre Guild Fundraiser next week. Among the Broadway stars heading to Morris Township on June 9 will be 2004 "American Idol" finalist and Tony Award-nominee Constantine Maroulis for the annual fundraiser at the Bickford Theatre at the Morris Museum. Maroulis will join about a dozen other Broadway performers acting and singing as villains from Broadway classics in this year's fundraiser's theme, "Life Upon the Wicked Stage: Broadway's Greatest Villains, Thieves and Ladies of the Evening." Maroulis, a Wyckoff native, will open the show with the song "Heaven on Their Minds" as Judas from the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar." Later in the evening, he will also sing the…

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Stephen Wiley Honored: From Doing, to Done

Morristown leader, lawyer responsible for Morristown/Township school district merger, toasted at Morris Museum on May 10.

Leader. Visionary. Friend. These were just some of the words used to describe Stephen Wiley, a former lawyer, philanthropist, organizer and Morristown native, who was honored Thursday for his lifetime of accomplishment at the Stephen B. Wiley Tribute Gala, at the Morris Museum in Morris Township. The youngest of five children, Wiley was born on Early Street, graduated from Morristown High School in 1947 and, among many accomplishments here, helped bring about the merger of the Morristown and Morris Township school districts, to become the Morris School District, in the early 1970s. Jackson Wiley, one of Stephen Wiley's older brothers, said everyone called him "Babe." While the rest of the Wiley clan ventured elsewhere after school, Stephen…

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